Listening to Dum Dum Girls is a very effective way to time travel back to the 1960s.  This four piece band draws comparisons to girl groups of yore, but with a bit more grit.  With songs entitled "Catholicked", "Don’t Talk to Me" and "Jail La La", these ladies inject a bawdy sense of humor into their catchy pop songs.  Dee Dee, Jules, Frankie Rose and Bambi are currently touring the country, undoubtedly entrancing the American masses.   

I would be lying if I said that KillKillKill wasn’t aptly named.  This band plays aggressively metal music, with a hint of hardcore influence.  "Nothing Left" opens with a particularly unsettling movie quote, threatening the life of a man’s girlfriend.  The song that follows is fast and would benefit from being played as loud as possible.  Members Mike Smith, Shawn Bruce, and Wayne Martin make music that sounds like a cross between Mastodon and Terror.  KillKillKill is slated to play a couple of shows in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina but should be back in Los Angeles in April. 

Pat Grossi, of Active Child, has serious credentials.  A former member of the Philadelphia Boys Choir, Grossi’s high tenor is the star of his one man show.  Grossi’s voice coupled with a chorus of keyboards is quite the winning combination.  The layered vocals are clearing influenced by Grossi’s days in the choir, but are completely transformed by the electronic, synthesizer laden instrumentals.  "Body Heat (So Far Away)" is one of those songs that could make you cry, if you were in a particularly fragile state.  These are songs that evoke feelings.  If you enjoy feeling feelings, maybe you should start listening to Active Child. 

I have a feeling that if Iggy Pop came of age in the 1950s, his band would sound something like Dirt Dress.  It’s as if early punk rock had a one night stand with a bebop band, and Dirt Dress was the bastard love child.  Noah, who is responsible for vocals and lead guitar, has a voice that is reminiscent of the Pixies’ Black Francis, which couldn’t be more complimentary.  The other two-thirds of Dirt Dress are Jose and Raymond, playing bass/rhythm guitar and drums respectively.  With songs such as "Junk", "Stray Cats" and "Sonic Death", they manage to sound as though they were plucked out of the mid eighties.  They inject enough modernity into the equation to keep their sound fresh and original while remaining familiar.  Their music is well suited to semi dangerous skateboarding excursions, impromptu late night dinners at the local Mexican place and skinny dipping anywhere you shouldn’t be swimming.  If these activities excite you, check them out. 

I would hang out with Dawes.  What’s not to like?  They make great, straight forward music that is free of pretention and full of soul.  The four gentlemen involved in Dawes are as follows:  Taylor Goldsmith, Griffin Goldsmith (fraternal duo, not a romantic couple), Wylie Gelber, and Alex Casnoff.  To be quite frank, the name Griffin was to get me on board, but if you’re not as easily persuaded, let me do more to convince you.  Dawes sounds distinctly American, perhaps due to their heavy soul influence.  They also have made it their modus operandi to capture the inherent nature of their instruments.  The guitars sound like guitars, and the organs sound like organs.  No distortion, no synthesizers, and no auto-tune.  The vocals are pure and devoid and resonate perfectly with the musical backdrop.  All in all, this band is well worth your time. 

Warpaint perfectly weds 70s psychedelia with the haunting female vocals of Emily Kokal and Theresa Wayman. Their music is a testament to the X chromosome, creating music that is uniquely and eerily alluring. Jenny Lee Lindberg on bass also lends her voice on occasion while Stella Mozgawa sticks to the drums. Warpaint is currently on tour through March, but should be back in Los Angeles at the end of the month. Check out their debut EP Equisite Corpse out on Manimal Vinyl.

The feisty foursome Dawes just released a spectacular music video entitled "Love Is All I Am".  It is sure to have you feeling amorous in mere seconds.  Modern scenes are juxtaposed against grainy shots that look as though they were snatched from a family’s home movie collection.  Check it out!

Nicole Simone | "Melt"
Dir. by Abazar Khayami

Having always been fascinated with old films and nostalgic art, singer/songwriter Nicole Simone‘s sound dates back to a time where vocals were the sexiest part of the show. One can only wonder how Jason Schwartzman, local raconteur of the pop rock sort, will fit drum and banjo parts into Simone’s self-titled debut EP, due March 5th.

Nicole Simone plays The Bootleg Theatre on February 24.

Formerly known as Afternoons, Shadow Shadow Shade grew frustrated sharing a nearly identical name with a Welsh band and recently decided to set themselves apart from it (when the internet is the predominant launching pad for emerging bands, it would not suffice to share a Google results page.) What you will find now is a sound both refreshingly current and comfortingly nostalgic. The seven-piece, conceived in 2006 by Brian Canning and Steven Scott from the band Irving, are slowly delving into the importance of the live performance with a string of shows set in coming weeks. The operatic vocals of Claire McKeown set them apart from the others attempting to instill a charming ’70s quality to a new-folk sound. Shadow Shadow Shade play Spaceland this Friday. –Kate Proto

Every week, The Deli LA will be checking in with those who broke onto the Best of 2009 poll.  View the full list of artists here.

The Body Parts–freak pop project of Ryder Bach–is a tasteful combination of both intrigue and discomfort. Though completely disjointed and dissonant, it still has listenability in its role as a complete outcast who favors the pop side of punk. If you can’t make last minute plans to the Echo Curio tonight for their set, settle for downloading their EP Literal Pop, available for free here.

Local Natives | "Airplanes" (Two Meter Sessions)
[via The Music Slut]

The Deli LA’s Artists of 2009 Local Natives are breaking huge, fast and now international: check out the video above of an unplugged rendition of "Airplanes," straight from their debut LP Gorilla Manor. Filmed for Amsterdam’s Two Meter Sessions, the group show that even a subdued version of themselves is worthy of recognition.

Singer/songwriter AM isn’t a stranger to having left his musical mark right under your nose; his last LP Troubled Times had every track licensed to all sorts of projects on television and film, an impressive feat not done since Moby’s mega-hit Play. With that kind of cred, AM has already proven a strong viability with most any audience, but without the necessary weight that comes in being a well-recognized mainstay. That’s about to change with his latest LP Future Sons & Daughters, a fully developed snapshot of AM in the context of, not just the single, but the lost art of the album.

Produced by Charles Newman (The Magnetic Fields), this lush and multi-faceted pop work is a testament to AM’s love of retro radio, analog warmth and laser-precise melodies. Nods range from ’60s Detroit to ’70s Philly, but intends to be current with a modern palette in production. Highlight track "Fortunate Family Tree" revives roots melody awash with steady organs, loose snares and hallucinatingly wavey lead guitar lines, all signs that this is a worthy trip to a past sound, sans the cringing generally associated in homage attempts. This is pop music for the refined ear, or, rather, the ear that remembers what pop music was really always supposed to be. -Hugo Gomez